Elevated Romance
by cj10824
Summary: Troy had it all planned out. He spent weeks preparing the perfect way to ask his best friend to prom. But has Troy missed his chance? Troyella oneshot.


**AN: Just a little oneshot that I was inspired to write. Thanks to Dee, Kaitlin, and Erin for your input. :) Hope everyone enjoys. Leave a review and let me know what you think. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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He felt like his heart was tearing in two. He thought he had it all planned out perfectly. He'd been forming his plan for weeks. Who knew that one person could screw all of that up with just one question. He felt as if he couldn't run fast enough. He had never left school and gotten home so quickly. Even though he'd regret forgetting to grab his history book to study for the quiz he had the next day, he couldn't care less at this point. He needed to get away. He needed to go somewhere peaceful where he could think.

Troy threw his bag down on the couch in the family room before running out the back door into his backyard. After quickly climbing the ladder, he settled himself in the small bean bag chair in the corner of his treehouse. Well, not just his treehouse. It belonged to him and his best friend, Gabriella Montez. Their dads had built it for them as a Christmas gift when they were five years old. He laid his head back against the wall, surveying all of the things the two had in their treehouse. The walls were decorated with all kinds of pictures. There were posters all around, including a large Peter Pan poster attached to the ceiling. The walls also had many photos of the two from the time they were newborns, all the way up until pictures they had taken recently. He smiled as he located the most recent picture of the two from after the state championship game. Troy had his arms wrapped around Gabriella's lower waist and she was leaning up, kissing his cheek as enormous grins covered each of their faces.

Troy shook his head remembering the happiness he felt that day, just a few weeks ago. That night at the after party at his house, after a long discussion with Gabriella's other best friends, Sharpay and Taylor, Troy had decided to ask Gabriella to the prom. Since that night, he had been planning what he thought was the perfect way to ask his best friend. He had been telling himself for years that he they were just friends. Yet, the night of the championships, Troy discovered he had stronger feelings for her. And after what had just happened, he realized that he definitely wanted to be more than best friends. He'd be lying if he said that Gabriella wasn't his type. He knew she was perfect for him—so beautiful, caring, sweet, funny, humble, smart, athletic—they clicked so well together. He groaned, frustrated with himself that he let the perfect girl slip through his grasp, all because of his fears.

_Flashback_

_Troy had a little extra bounce to his step, walking down the hallway towards Gabriella's locker. The bell had just rung signaling the end of school for the day, and Troy couldn't be happier. He had spent the last twenty minutes up at the rooftop garden—his and Gabriella's secret hangout spot. He had convinced his dad to let him skip out on 8__th__ period weights so that he could set up the perfect atmosphere at their hangout spot. He had bought a few bouquets of roses and had set them in various places in the garden. He had also scattered rose petals all over the floor, and laid a few roses in the corner spelling out the phrase 'PROM?' _

_Troy rounded the corner and felt his anticipation growing. He couldn't wait. In a few minutes, he would take Gabriella to their spot and ask her to Prom. With any luck, everything would go smoothly and this would be the beginning of a dating relationship for the two of them. Troy looked up to where Gabriella's locker was and felt his heart drop. Gabriella was standing at her locker, smiling shyly at the guy leaning on the locker next to her. Troy backed back around the corner and listened to their conversation, knowing he probably shouldn't but he couldn't help himself. _

"_Thanks for walking me to my locker Jeremy. I'll see you tomorrow?" Gabriella asked trying to hint that she wanted Jeremy to leave._

"_No problem Gabs. You need a ride home?" Troy cringed as he saw Jeremy placed his hand on the locker above Gabriella's head, leaning dangerously close to her. _

_Gabriella nervously took a small step backwards to increase the distance between them. "Umm, no thanks. I'm supposed to meet Troy here and walk home with him."_

_Jeremy nodded "Okay, well he's not here yet though. So until he gets here, is it okay if I keep you company." _

"_Uh, okay I guess." Gabriella picked up her backpack off the ground, and placed it on her shoulder nervously adjusting the strap. _

_Jeremy smiled while taking a small step closer, decreasing the distance once again, the look on his face revealing his eagerness for something. "So…prom is coming up." _

_Troy felt his heart drop even more. 'This cannot be happening,' Troy thought. _

"_Yeah, a few more weeks." _

_Jeremy took a deep breath. "You have a date?" _

_Part of Troy wanted to rush out from around the corner, knock Jeremy out, grab Gabriella's hand, and rush up to the rooftop garden so that he could ask her first. But a bigger part of him kept him standing right where he was. 'What if she really wants to go with some other guy like Jeremy? Maybe she does, and if I ask her it's just gonna get really awkward and screw things up. Besides, I've had months to ask her…I need to let her make this decision on her own.' _

_Gabriella shook her head. "Um, no. No one has asked me yet."_

_Troy slightly peered around the corner, needing to see her reaction to this. He still had hope that she would turn him down immediately and he could ask her quickly before someone else did. _

_Jeremy smiled. "Well, would you like to go with me?" _

_Troy couldn't take it anymore. Gabriella's face broke into a small smile as she grinned up at Jeremy. He felt his heart breaking. He couldn't bear to hear her say yes. From the looks of things, she was going to, and he knew he couldn't take that. He wouldn't be able to stand hearing her gush about going to Prom all the way on their walk home. He needed to get away before things took an even worse turn, so Troy quickly darted back down the hallway and rushed out of the front doors of East High. _

_End Flashback_

'All because I was too chicken to say something earlier. Now I really screwed up. I should have just stuck around and asked her anyways. I left, and now I don't know what she said. I mean, there's still a slight chance she'd say yes to me right? But I probably won't know now…all because I missed my shot.' Troy picked up a small pillow on the floor and angrily chucked it across the treehouse watching as it fell through the hole where the ladder was.

Troy heard some shuffling below and ducked as the pillow came back up into the treehouse and almost hit him in the face. Troy sighed, knowing only one other person would come up to the treehouse. Seconds later his suspicions were confirmed as Gabriella came up the ladder and planted herself in the bean bag chair next to him.

"You do know that pillow almost hit me in the head right?" Gabriella asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Troy laughed. "Well, the same goes for you. So I guess we're even." Troy looked up and met Gabriella's dark brown eyes before glancing back down at the floor, tossing the pillow up in the air and catching it.

"I can't believe we still come up here. One would think we'd be too big for treehouses." Gabriella laughed, but her smile faded seeing Troy didn't smile at all.

"Troy?"

"Yeah?" Troy responded never once taking his focus off the floor.

"Why didn't you stick around after school and walk home with me?" Troy could feel her eyes still watching him, but he still refused to make eye contact.

'Think Troy, think!' Troy racked his brain trying to quickly come up with a decent excuse—one that Gabriella would buy, since he skipped out on plans with her.

"Um, I forgot I had to run home and mow the lawn." Gabriella raised her eyebrow, a slight smirk forming on her face.

'Stupid! Mow the lawn?!'

Gabriella giggled. "Well, it certainly looks like you did your job." Gabriella commented sarcastically gesturing to the grass outside that still needed to be cut. "Troy?" Gabriella called sweetly.

Troy surrendered raising his eyes and meeting her gaze. "Yeah?" Troy sighed.

"What's really going on? You never ditch me like that, and rarely do you come up here and sulk."

"Me? Sulk? I'm not sulking!"

Gabriella raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Bolton, I know you better than that. Now come on. Spill. What's the problem?"

Troy thought for a moment before an idea that could solve all his problems came to mind. "Okay, I ran all the way home thinking I had to mow the lawn but then realized that my dad had just fertilized it so I can't, not to mention the lawn is wet from the rain, and now I realized I left my history book behind and we have that huge quiz tomorrow."

Gabriella smiled, watching him ramble on and on. "Well, since we are in the same class, and it's not too far for me to get from my house to yours," Gabriella began sarcastically, "I can just bring my book over for us both to study from. No need to sulk because of that."

Troy shook his head. "Nah, I need mine cause….cause um…cause I left my notes in my book, and I need those to study. So I really need to go grab my book. Want to come with me?"

Gabriella groaned. "Walk all the way back to school? I just got here."

Troy laughed. "Come on Montez," he stood up and held out his hand to help her up. "Let's go."

Gabriella placed her hand in Troy's and both of them felt sparks once their hands touched. Troy tightly gripped her hand and pulled her up before leading her over to the ladder, not letting go of her hand.

"Ladies first," Troy grinned, stepping aside to let her go down first before quickly following her.

Minutes later, the two arrived at school and headed towards Troy's locker. Troy grabbed his book, before closing his locker and gently placing his arm around Gabriella's shoulders leading her down the hallway.

"Hey Troy?" Gabriella asked as they turned the corner.

"Yep?"

"The exit is back that way." Gabriella pointed behind her with her thumb.

"I know, but I want to show you something first." Troy smiled, pushing open a door and leading her up the steps to the rooftop garden. Once they reached the top, Troy took a deep breath hoping everything was still set up, and praying that he wouldn't screw something up by taking this risk. He heard Gabriella gasp and smiled to himself, figuring it was a good thing.

For the first time since they got up to the garden, Troy looked over at Gabriella and his smile grew as he saw her eyes light up as she took in everything he had set up. He watched as she walked over to the nearest bouquet of roses and bent down to smell the fresh roses. Gabriella looked up at Troy and as his blue eyes met her brown ones, their faces erupted in identical grins.

"Troy, you did all this?" Troy nodded, never taking his eyes off of her, since her smile had captured his attention. "Why?"

Troy walked over to her and gently grabbed her hand before leading her over to the corner. Troy pointed to the roses in the corner that spelled out the phrase 'PROM?'

"Listen, Gabi…the real reason I took off earlier is because I overheard you talking with Jeremy after school. I heard what he asked you, and it upset me because I had this all planned out. Now I know you may have already said yes to him, but on the off chance you didn't, I wanted to ask…will you go to prom with me?" Troy finished looking at the side of her face while she still stared at the rose display in the corner.

After a few moments, Gabriella still hadn't said anything, which caused Troy to panic. He dropped her hand and brought his up to scratch the back of his neck before groaning in frustration. "Crap, I'm sorry Gabi. You probably already said yes to Jeremy. Hopefully I didn't screw up our friendship by being an idiot and asking you this way…I'm just gonna go," Troy said before quickly turning and walking towards the steps.

He stopped as he felt a small hand wrap gently around his upper arm and gently turn him around. Before he had time to react, he felt two soft lips cover his as Gabriella leaned up and boldly kissed him, placing both her hands on his shoulders. She shyly pulled away, her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. She tentatively reached her hands out and softly placed them against Troy's hands causing him to smile, sparks flying once again.

"I said no to Jeremy, Troy. I didn't want to go to prom with him." Gabriella admitted, letting Troy intertwine their fingers. "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, and that you got hurt in all of this. But yes…I'd love to go to prom with you."

Big smiles adorned both of their faces. Troy released one of her hands, and softly cupped her cheek before lowering his head and capturing her lips in a sweet, yet passionate kiss.

Troy leaned his head against Gabriella's while they fought to catch their breath. "Do something else for me?" Troy whispered against her lips.

"Anything."

Troy sighed. He gently brushed his nose against hers and softly kissed her lips once more, before leaning his forehead against hers once again.

"Be my girlfriend?"

Gabriella's eyes lit up and she smiled widely before she threw her arms around Troy's neck and jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"Ooof," Troy said, surprised at her sudden burst of excitement. "I'll take that as a yes?" Troy asked, gently tucking a loose curl behind her ear, before placing his hand back around her waist holding her up.

Gabriella leaned her head down, resting her forehead against his as she stared into his piercing blue eyes. "Yes."


End file.
